Congratulations, Kate
by equinewolf
Summary: Beckett's getting married, and Castle is brokenhearted, but attends the wedding anyway. TwoShot
1. Congratulations

_**Here, have a one shot. =) It's based on the song Congratulations by Blue October. If you haven't heard the song, please look it up! It's really beautiful. **_

_**Hope you like the fic. ^^**_

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**_It was the day he had been dreading ever since he got the invitation. Kate Beckett's wedding. Four years after he finished shadowing her, not having heard from her since, but then again she hadn't heard from him either. Then one day, out of the blue, Castle recieved a card, inviting him to her wedding with...well with whats-his-face. Castle stopped reading after he got past Beckett's name.

"This is a bad idea." He told himself, as he surveyed himself in the mirror. He was wearing a simple, yet formal suit. In all honesty, he had no idea why he was going. As if his heart wasn't broken enough because of her. Now he was _willingly _going to watch the woman he loved get married to someone else. Once he looked presentable, he grabbed his car keys and headed out the door. Regret was already overwhelming him, and he had just left.

The venue where the wedding was being held was fairly nice. The parking area wasn't very crowded.  
"Must be a small wedding." Castle mused, "but, then why would she invite me...?" For what must have been the thousendth time that day alone, Castle pondered why he was here. He stood outside the church for a few minutes, just thinking. Remembering. Missing. Wishing that he could go back in time to when he and Beckett had been unofficial partners. Writer and Muse.  
"Why hadn't I just told her?" He whispered, wondering where those four years had gone.  
"Why didn't I contact her?" He had been telling himself that he had been too busy with his writing to call, but the truth was that he was afraid. Afraid that since the Nikki Heat series had ended, Beckett wouldn't want him around. That was why he had left in the first place.

Castle was jarred from his thoughts when a small group of people brushed past him to enter the church. One of the people in the group, a women that looked kind of like Beckett suddenly turned to him.  
"Rick Castle!" She yelped. He simply nodded, not really in the mood to socialize.  
"I'm Kate's cousin, Jessie! It's good to see you here, Kate always talked so highly of you. Well, seeya inside!" She said, turning to enter the church. _Beckett said good things about me? That doesn't sound like her. _He thought with a chuckle, holding on to the fond memories of them jokingly bickering and teasing eachother.

Jumping back to reality, Castle hesitantly let himself in. As soon as he saw the inside of the church, he had the vicious urge to tell Beckett what he had been keeping bottled up for years. _No. I can't do that to her. I told myself I was just here to watch. I. Will. Not. Interfere. _Yet, no matter how much his brain internally scolded himself, his heart just told his brain to shut up. He noticed Jessie standing on the other side of the room, and quickly strode over.  
"Hey, do you know where uh..Kate is?" He asked.  
"Oh, yeah! She's over in the dressing rooms." She said, pointing in the direction of a door. Castle thanked her and started towards the room, frantically trying to convince himself to just leave the situation alone. Alas, the smart part of him failed the internal battle, and Castle knocked softely on the door. A few moments passed, then a crash and bang echoed from inside. Castle was about to go in to make sure no one was hurt, when the door swung open.

At that moment, Castle came face to face with Beckett. She was in her wedding gown already, and Castle was shocked at how gorgeous she looked. The stared at eachother for what seemed like eternity.  
"Castle?" She asked, sounding almost...dissapointed to see him. Not quite what he expected.  
"Beckett." He said. Beckett looked down in embarrasment.  
"Sorry. It's just...I didn't expect to see you here. It um, it was Kurt's idea to invite you." That must be the groom.  
"Oh." It was uncomfortabley silent for a few minutes, the whole time, Castle was trying, and nearly failing to work up the courage to tell her how he felt.

"Look, Beckett...Kate. I was hoping I could talk to you." Silence. After a few more moments of awkwardness, she stepped to the side, inviting him into the small back room.  
"Okay, what did you want to say?" Beckett asked.  
"Well, I uh just wanted to say that...you know what, nevermind. I wouldn't want to cause complications." Castle said, quickly changing his mind. He turned to leave, wanting to get the hell out before he said something he'd regret. He placed his hand on the door knob, ready to open the door when Beckett put a hand on his arm.  
"No, I want to know."  
Castle gulped nervously.  
"Um, okay..." He began.  
"I've been wanting to say this for a while. Even back when we worked together. I guess over the years that I shadowed you, I kinda...fell in love with you." Beckett's eyes widened in shock as she opened her mouth to say something. Castle held up a hand.  
"I'm not finished, and I know it's out of the blue and really inappropriate to bring up at your wedding of all places, but I felt it had to be said." So that was that.  
"I hope you're happy with...him. Congratulations, Kate." Castle finished, feeling broken. Beckett still didn't speak. She simply nodded. Castle left feeling empty and confused.

Castle didn't know what had posessed him to stay thorough the ceremony. No doubt Beckett didn't want him to. Castle had zoned out through the whole thing, just watching Beckett with sad eyes.  
"Do you, Kurt Bedford take Katherine Beckett to be your lawful wedded wife to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?" The minister asked the groom. _As long as you both shall live. _The phrase rung in Castle's ears, knowing from this day on he would never have a chance with Beckett. He wanted her to be happy. He really did, but it killed him seeing her up there with another man.  
"I do." The groom said, and Castle felt slightly nauseous. The minister turned to Beckett.  
"Do you, Katherine Beckett take Kurt Bedford to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?" Beckett stood, rooted to the spot, not speaking or even visibly breathing. The crowd was filled with hushed whispers.  
"Kate?" The groom whispered.  
"I-"  
"I'm sorry, I can't do this!" Beckett bolted back down the aisle, tears in her eyes. Castle hadn't seen Beckett in cry since they had solved her mother's murder, which had been six years ago. His first instinct was to comfort her, just as he had that day many years before.

The groom was muttering incoherently. _Isn't he going to go talk to her? _Castle thought angrily. With possibly the whole crowd watching, Castle stood and ran after her.  
He found Beckett in the parking lot sitting in a heap near her car. He rushed over to her.  
"Are you okay, Kate?" He asked gently reaching out a hand to help her up. She nodded, taking his hand.  
"Can we go for a walk...away from here?" She asked, brushing tears off her face.  
"Yeah, of course."

So they walked. They walked for nearly a half hour in a perfect silence.  
"You wanna tell me what happened back there?" Castle asked, stopping and looking at Beckett intently. Beckett fidgeted, as if she was choosing her words carefully.  
"I guess over the years you shadowed me, I kinda fell in love with you too."


	2. 18th Floor Balcony

_**Alright, I finally updated this. Here's the short, wrapup chapter. This part was based loosely on the song 18th Floor Balcony (also by Blue October.) Hope you like. ^^**_

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Castle looked her in the eyes. He couldn't believe it. He really couldn't. She felt the same?

"R-really?" He asked, and she nodded, looking down, almost…shyly. He didn't think he'd ever seen Beckett look shy before.

"Yeah."

They walked side by side for a few more minutes without saying much. It was a comfortable silence though, and the back of Castle's hand brushed against Beckett's more than once.

Hey Beckett?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"Hm?"

"Why didn't you want me to come? To the wedding?" He asked, a little nervous to hear the answer.

It was silent for a moment or two before Beckett finally spoke.

"I guess…that…I, well…See, I've known that I…love you for…years really," She stuttered out the words, not really knowing how to phrase what she was trying to say.

She turned to Castle, and they stopped walking.

"I just, I thought that if I saw you again…I wouldn't be able to do it…I wouldn't be able to marry him," She finished.

Beckett never really loved Kurt. She realized this the second she opened that dressing room door to find Castle's face staring back at her.

"Are you upset?" Castle asked.

"I…no. No. If I married him, then I would never truly be happy," Beckett gave a small smile,

"Seeing you made me realize that I never actually loved him. I was just…I don't know, trying to fill the empty spot in my heart, as cheesy as that sounds."

Castle smiled back at her, and he gently took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers.

"Come on." He said, starting to walk, leading her off the path through a patch of trees. They were out in one of the more naturesque parts of New York City.

"Shouldn't we, I mean, shouldn't I go back and talk to him?" Beckett asked, following him, still holding onto his hand as if she never wanted to let go.

"You can talk to him later, but why don't we take advantage of the last hour of sunlight?"

Beckett tried to hide her smile. She couldn't help but smile though.

She had never really been one for expressing her emotions, but that was one of those things about Castle she never really could figure out, how he could bring her to express her emotions without even saying anything most of the time.

It took her until now to realize it was because she loved him that he could bring out these emotions.

Of course, even when she had barely known him, he could cause her to emit anger and frustration, usually towards him and his obnoxiousness. But as the years went on, she had let him see her in other states. She let him see her excited, happy, she even let him see her cry once or twice, and she never let anyone see her cry.

Through the patch of trees was a clear field. The grass was perfect, and the trees framed the field as if it were a photo.

"Wow. Where are we?" Beckett asked Castle.

"I come here sometimes to write. No one really knows about it."

"It's great." Beckett said, grinning up at him. It was then that she realized she was still in her wedding dress. She laughed aloud at herself, but found that she didn't really mind that she still had her dress.

A few leaves were drifting off the trees in the light breeze. It was early fall, and the trees had just began to shed.

Castle and Beckett ended up sitting down at the base of the biggest tree. It was nearly in the dead center of the field, and was huge, with a few orange, red, and purple leaves scattered around the trunk.

Sitting there in the woods, leaning up against Castle, Beckett felt young again. Sure, she definitely wasn't old yet, but these past few years had been tiring, because honestly, she had forgotten how difficult and exhausting being a homicide detective is when you don't have someone to make it feel a little less like work.

Seeing her again was like a weight had been lifted off of Castle's chest, a weight that hadn't allowed him to breathe for the past four years.

"You know, I really missed you Beckett." Castle mumbled, pressing his cheek to her hair, which she had taken out of its fancy style. They were still holding hands, and Castle couldn't remember the last time he felt this at ease.

Beckett had her eyes closed, and was perfectly content with sitting there forever.

"I missed you too." She whispered, dreading the moment when she had to get up and go back to that church. Everyone would be gone by the time they would get there, but she still dreaded going back. Then she would have to face her friends and family at some point, not to mention her fiancé…well not her fiancé anymore, but she was still not looking forward to talking to him about what happened.

"Everything will be alright." Castle said softly, feeling her tense up next to him.

They sat there, leaned up against the tree, fingers intertwined, and just talked as the sun set. They talked about nothing in particular, but they didn't need to. They were just glad to be talking.

Eventually Beckett fell asleep, leaning on Castle, her head on his shoulder. He kissed her hair gently, and smiled down at her, and even though that was definitely not what Castle-or Beckett-had expected to happen that day, everything felt right.


End file.
